Device for transmitting forces



Aug. 22, i967 R. G. TAYLOR 3,336,987

DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING FORCES Filed Sept. 2l, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet l ug. 22, N67 R. G. TAYLOR 3,335,987

DEVICE FOR TRNSMITTING FORCES Filed sept. 21, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2;

Aug 22, '1957 R. G. TAYLOR 3,336,987

DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING FORCES Filed Sept. 2l, 1964 4 SheetsSheet 3 Aug- 22, W67 R. G. TAYLOR 3,336,987

DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING FORCES Filed Sept. 2l, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 'l0 g5 77A 9L/l' 4f@ Z7\\ Q) 26 @29 United States Patent O 3,336,987 DEVICE FUR TRANSMITTHNG FORCES Robert Glenville Taylor, Southall, England, assigner to Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited, Southall, England, a British company Filed Sept. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 398,017 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 25, 1963, 37,814/63 10 Claims. (Cl. 173-130) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A device for transmitting force to a structural member, e.g. a pile, comprises an element for receiving the force `and means providing a frictional surface connection between the element yand the structural member. The frictional connection, effected by a clamping bolt which passes through registering apertures in the element and the member, with clearance .in at least one of the apertures, alone transmits the force.

Summry of the invention It is the chief object of the invention to provide means whereby a dynamic or st-atic force acting in either direction in the plane of motion of the force from a force conveying device such Ias the ram of an hydraulic or screw jack or the head of a hammer, may `be transmitted to a pile or other structural member in such a manner as `adequately to distribute the force into the pile or member and so obvia-te or substantially obviate the possibility of local failure of the pile or structural member in the vicinity of the force transmitting device.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a device which may be used for practicing a method of transmitting forces to -a pile or other structural member, which method consists in bolting by means of one or more high strength friction grip bolts, one :or more elements to the pile or structural member in such a manner that the element or elements will be urged into frictional engagement with the surface or surfaces of said pile or member whereby a force applied to the element or elements will vbe transmitted frictionally to the pile or member via said surfaces.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided a device for transmitting forces to a pile or other structural member which comprises `at least one element having one or more apertures therein which lis or are adapted to be `aligned with a corresponding aperture or corresponding apertures in the pile or structural member and one or more high strength friction grip bolts by means of which the element or elements may be bolted to said pile or structural member in such a manner that the surface or surfaces of the element `or elements is or are urged into frictional engagement with the surface or surfaces of the pile or member so that a force `applied to said element or elements will in normal voperation be -transmitted frictionally to said pile or member via said surfaces` In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which show one constructional embodiment by way of example and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view `of -a device for use in the driving and extraction of piles yor like structural members,

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the device shown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the device shown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line A-A of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 5 isa section on the line B-.B of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line C-C of FIGURE l and FIGURE 7 is a section on the line DD of FIGURE l.

The device illustrated in the drawings -includes two steel plates lA which are `adapted when the device is in use to be disposed one `on each side of a structural member 2 to which forces are to be applied. The member 2 may be -a pile which is to be driven into or extracted from the ground .and in the following description it will be referred to as such. Holes 1 are provided in the pile 2 and in the plates lA and high strength friction grip bolts 3 are passed through the aligned holes in said pile and the plates 1A. The holes 1 may be provided 4in the pile 2 by any convenient method, for example, by drilling, punching, or burning. The holes 1 in the pile 2 and the plates 1A are clearance holes so that the bolts 3 pass freely through said pile and plates. In the embodiment illustrated the upper end 24 of the pile 2 is shown as terminating short of the upper ends 4 of the plates 1A but it may -be mentioned here that the upper end of said pile may terminate relative to said plates 1A at any position at or below the upper ends of the plates.

The upper ends of the plates 1A are entered between the legs 17 of a fork 5. At the upper end of the space defined by the legs 17 there is provided a thrust cap 7 which is secured to the fork 5 by means of a bolt 13. A spring 14 surrounds the bolt 13 and acts on the cap 7 in such a manner that a part-spherical seating surface 12 on the latter will be maintained in contact with a corresponding seating surface in the fork 5, the arrangement Ibeing such that said cap 7 will be capa-ble of a degree lof rotary or angular movement. The top faces 4 of the plates 1A, when in the operative position as shown, contact the tlat undersurface of the cap 7. It may be mentioned here that any other convenient means may be employed for retaining the thrust cap 7 in position against the part spherical seating surface 12 `of the fork 5 it being borne in mind of course that said thrust cap should be capable of a degree of angular or rotary movement.

At a level below the cap 7 the legs 17 of the fork 5 are each provided with a rectangular hole 17A and the plates 1A are each provided with a correspondingly positioned hole or aperture 8. A pin 6 is passed through the holes 17A and 8, is supported by seatings 29 on the legs 17, and is normally urged by a spring 19 against a stop 20 provided on one of the legs. The force exerted by the spring 19 is transmitted to the pin 6 by Way of a lever 21 and a pin 22 entered in a guide 23 carried by said pin 6, said lever 21 being carried by a spindle 2S about which the spring 19 is also disposed and to which an operating hand lever 26 is connected.

The pin 6 is formed at its upper side with a spherical seating surface 9 which mates with a further spherical seating surface provided on a bearing pad 10. The pad 10, as will be seen from FIGURE 4, passes through the holes 8 in the plates 1A. Springs l1 connected between the pad 10 and the pin 6 serve to hold the pad 10 in close contact with the spherical seating 9 of the pin 6, the arrangement being such that a degree of angular or rotary movement may take place between the pad and its seating.

The arrangement is such that by applying an appropriate force to the lever 26 the pin 6 mayr be caused to move from the position shown in FIGURE 4 outwardly along the slide 27 of a bracket 28 to a withdrawn or inoperative position indicated in dotted lines at the left of FIGURE 1. 0n release of the force on the lever 26 the 3 spring 19 will cause the pin 6 to be returned to the seatings 29 on the legs 17. The method of withdrawal and return of the pin 6 can vary widely and means other than the spring 19, lever 21, pin 22, guide 23, spindle and lever 26 may well be employed. For example the last mentioned items may be removed completely and the arrangement may be such that the pin 6 may simply be withdrawn and returned entirely manually. Alternatively a worm gear system or hydraulically or pneumatically operated jacks or screw jacks may be employed.

In the embodiment illustrated guide bars are tted between the legs 17 of the fork 5 and a further guide bracket such as is indicated at 31 may be tted to one or both of said legs, the purpose of such guide means being hereinafter made apparent.

It will be appreciated that if the upper end 24 of the pile 2 were to terminate above the level of the pin 6 then it would be necessary to cut a hole in the pile large enough to allow the pin 6 and the bearing pad 10 to pass through unimpeded.

It is intended that the force from a hammer or ram will be applied to the fork 5. The end of a ram (not shown) may be screwed into a hole 16 at the upper end of the fork 5 or alternatively a hammer (not shown) may be caused to strike the upper surface of the said fork.

In use of the force transmitting device described above the pile 2. is entered between the plates 1A so that the bolts 3 may be passed through the plates 1A and said pile. As mentioned all the holes 1 are clearance holes so that the pile 2 and plates 1A are free to move with respect to one another until the bolts 3 are lfully tightened. Initially, however, the bolts are tightened manually with a Spanner so that the plates 1A make contact with the side surfaces of the pile 2. The top faces 4 of the plates 1A are then brought into the same horizontal plane as one another by tapping one or both plates 1A with a hammer and checking with a straight edge. Once the top faces of the plates 1A have been brought into the same horizontal plane the nuts of the bolts 3 are tightened with a powerful torque Spanner so that a high tensile force is set up in each bolt 3 to force the plates 1A hard against the member 2. The torque applied to the nuts of the bolts 3 varies but generally it is such that the tensile stress set up in the Shanks of the bolts 3 is between 90% and 100% of the yield stress ofthe steel of the bolts.

The pin 6 is then withdrawn from the position shown in FIGURE 4 to the position shown in chain dotted lines in FIGURE 1 and the fork 5 is lowered into position over the plates 1A so that the legs 17 of the fork 5 straddle the upper ends of said plates 1A. During lowering the fork 5 is guided on to the plates 1A by means of the guide bars 30 and guide bracket 31. The fork 5 is lowered until the top face 4 of each plate 1A contacts the lower surface of the thrust cap 7. The pin 6 is then released so that the spring 19 urges the pin through the holes 8 provided in the plates 1A and against the stop 20. As the thrust cap 7 is so mounted on the fork as to be capable of a degree of rotary or angular movement relatively to the part spherical seating 12 then the thrust cap will, on contact with the face 4 constituted by the upper ends of the plates 1A, align itself to said face so that the touching faces of the cap and plates will be in close contact over the full area of the face 4. Thus it will be seen that the device is able to adjust itself to any small deviations in vertical angular alignment between the fork 5 and the plates 1A.

The force applied to the fork 5 by way of a hammer or ram, which force tends to drive the pile 2 into the ground, is transmitted to the pile by way of the thrust cap 7 and the plates 1A. The bolts 3, not being in contact with the surfaces defining the holes 1 provided in the pile 2, do not transmit the applied force, the force being transmitted, in normal operation, solely by frictional contact between the plates 1A and the pile 2.

If it is desired to pull the pile 2 then the fork 5 is lregistered with the aperture urged upwardly. In this case the bearing pad 10 resting on the pin 6 will make contact with the faces 15 of the holes in the plates 1A and due to the limited degree of angular or rotary movement of which said pad 10 is capable it will align itself to the faces 15 so that the touching faces of the pad 10 and holes 16 will be in close contact over the full area of said faces 15 of the holes 8 in the plates 1A. Thus it will be seen that the device is capable of adjusting itself to any small deviations in vertical angular alignment between the fork 5 and the plates 1A. It will be appreciated that if the member 2 is a pile then the force tends to extract the pile. The upward force applied to the fork 5 is transmitted by way of the pin 6 and bearing pad 10 to the faces 15 of the plates 1A.

Although six bolts 3 have been shown in the drawings, the number and arrangement of the bolts may be varied as desired and it may even be feasible to employ only one bolt. Furthermore instead of employing two plates such as 1A between which the upper end of the pile or other structural member is sandwiched it may be feasible tobolt only a single plate to one face of a pile or structural member to which the force is to be applied.

It is also possible to apply hammer blows directly to the top face 4 of the plates 1A, that is to say, the fork 5 and the parts carried thereby need not be employed at all times.

The force transmitting device and method described above are particularly suitable for use in conjunction with a method of and means for driving and/ or extracting piles or other structural members into or out of the ground disclosed in co-pending British patent application No. 34,488/ 60 and the corresponding United States patent to Taylor No. 3,279,195 dated Oct. 18, 1966.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for transmitting a force to a structural member having an aperture therein, said device comprising, an element having an aperture therein adapted to be in said structural member, and means for seeming said element to the structural member, said means comprising a high strength bolt extending through said apertures with clearance between said bolt and the wall of at least one of said apertures, said element having a large frictional surfacev adapted to be positioned in contact with the surface of the structural member and to be drawn into frictional forcetransmitting engagement therewith by said bolt, said element having a face surface upon which a force is applied, the frictional engagement of said surfaces with each other alone transmitting the force from said element to said structural member.

2. A device for transmitting a force to a structural member and the like comprising a fork with spaced legs having aligned openings therein, the portion of said fork between said legs having a part spherical seating surface, a thrust cap having a spherical upper portion seated against said seating surface and a flat bottom, a bolt securing said cap to said fork, a spring member mounted on said bolt between said bolt and cap to permit adjustable angular rotary movement of said cap on said seating surface, a pair of plates having their upper ends extending between said legs and adjacent said cap ilat bottom, and means for clamping a structural member between said plates so that a force applied to said fork will be transmitted to said cap, plates, and structural member.

3. The -device of claim 2 wherein said plates have large parallel surface areas with spaced holes therein, and said clamping means consist of bolts extending through said holes.

4. The device of claim 2 wherein said plates have transversely aligned apertures therein in lateral alignment with said fork openings and a transversely extending pin is mounted by said fork and extends through said apertures and said openings, and said pin has a crosssectional area substantially `smaller than the cross-section of said apertures and openings for transmitting a pulling force to said structural member.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said pin is provided with a central spherical portion, a pad is resiliently mounted on said pin over said spherical portion, said pad has a horizontal top, and the cross-sectional area of both said pin and pad is less than the cross-sectional area of said apertures and openings.

6. A device for transmitting a force to a structural member and the like comprising `a fork with spaced legs having aligned openings therein, the portion of said fork between said legs having a part spherical seating surface, a thrust cap with a spherical upper portion seated against said seating surface and a horizontal bottom, a bolt securing said cap to said fork, a spring member mounted on -said bolt between said bolt and cap to permit adjustable angular rotary movement of said cap on said seating surface, a pair of plates having their upper ends extending between said legs and adjacent said cap flat bottom, said plates having aligned apertures therein in alignment with said leg openings, a transversely extending pin disposed in said openings and apertures, a spherical portion on the central portion of said pin and disposed in said plate apertures, a pad with a complementary spherical portion resiliently mounted on said pin and seated over said pin spherical portion, the top of said pad being substantially horizontal, the cross-sectional area of both said pad and pin spherical portions being of substantially smaller dimension than said plate apertures, and clamping means for securing the side surfaces of said plates rigidly together with a structural member sandwiched therebetween.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein guide means are pr-O- vided on said fork to position it over a structural member.

The device of claim 6 wherein means are provided for moving said pin spherical portion out of and into said plate apertures including a lever, and a linkage operatively connected to said pin to move it in a horizontal direction, and resilient means normally urging said spherical portion into said plate apertures.

9. The device of claim 6 wherein said clamping means comprise a plurality of bolt members extending through a plurality of spaced bolt holes disposed in alignment with each other in said plates.

10. Apparatus for transmitting forces t-o a pile or other structural member comprising an element for attachment to a surface of the pile, said element having at least one aperture therein for alignment with at least one corresponding aperture in said pile, and at least one high strength friction grip bolt for positioning in the corresponding apertures in said element and. pile to bolt said element to said pile with cooperating surfaces in frictional engagement, the cross section of the aperture in at least either the pile or the element providing clearance around the bolt, the forces being transmitted from the element to the pile solely by said frictional engagement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,736,104 11/1929 Warrington 173-131 2,723,532 11/1955 Smith 173-131 2,798,363 7/1957 Hozak et al. 173-131 3,005,503 10/1961 Spickard 173-130 3,101,956 8/1963 Muller 173-132 3,149,851 9/1964 Adams 173-130 FRED C. MATTERN, JR., Primary Examiner. L. P. KESSLER, Assistanlt Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING A FORCE TO A STRUCTURAL MEMBER HAVING AN APERTURE THEREIN, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING, AN ELEMENT HAVING AN APERTURE THEREIN ADAPTED TO BE REGISTERED WITH THE APERTURE IN SAID STRUCTURAL MEMBER, AND MEANS FOR SECURING SAID ELEMENT TO THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER, SAID MEANS COMPRISING A HIGH STRENGTH BOLT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID APERTURES WITH CLEARANCE BETWEEN SAID BOLT AND THE WALL OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID APERTURES, SAID ELEMENT HAVING A LARGE FRICTIONAL SURFACE ADAPTED TO BE POSITIONED IN CONTACT WITH THE SURFACE OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER AND TO BE DRAWN INTO FRICTIONAL FORCETRANSMITTING ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH BY SAID BOLT, SAID ELEMENT HAVING A FACE SURFACE UPON WHICH A FORCE IS APPLIED, THE FRICTIONAL ENGAGEMENT OF SAID SURFACES WITH EACH OTHER ALONE TRANSMITTING THE FORCE FROM SAID ELEMENT TO SAID STRUCTURAL MEMBER. 